Books

THE CROW GARDEN – October 2017.

Susan Hill meets Wilkie Collins in Alison Littlewood’s latest chiller: mad-doctor Nathaniel is obsessed with the beautiful Mrs Harleston – but is she truly delusional? Or is she hiding secrets that should never be uncovered . . . ?

Mrs Victoria Harleston’s husband accuses her of hysteria and delusions – but she accuses him of hiding secrets far more terrible. Nathaniel is increasingly obsessed with her, but when he has her mesmerised, there are unexpected results. Increasingly besotted, he finds himself caught up in a world of séances and stage mesmerism in his bid to save her.

In 1917 the world was rocked by claims that two young girls – Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths – had photographed fairies in the sleepy village of Cottingley. In 2017, a century later, we finally discover the true nature of these fey creatures. Correspondence has come to light that contains a harrowing account, written by village resident Lawrence Fairclough, laying bare the fairies’ sinister malevolence and spiteful intent.

Pretty Lizzie Higgs is gone, burned to death on her own hearth – but was she really a changeling, as her husband insists? Albie Mirralls met his cousin only once, in 1851, within the grand glass arches of the Crystal Palace, but unable to countenance the rumours that surround her murder, he leaves his young wife in London and travels to Halfoak, a village steeped in superstition.

Albie begins to look into Lizzie’s death, but in this place where the old tales hold sway and the ‘Hidden People’ supposedly roam, answers are slippery and further tragedy is just a step away . . .

Take the paths less travelled, to the flooded caves of Mexico, the remote forests of Croatia and the vibrant cities of Morocco. Discover the secrets whispered by a Neolithic stone circle and the ancient tales of Ilkley Moor. Alison Littlewood’s own brand of quiet dark fiction will lead you through lands rooted in myth, legend and mystery.

Alison’s short stories have been picked for Best British Horror 2015, The Best Horror of the Year and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror anthologies, as well as The Best British Fantasy 2013 and The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 10. She has also won the Shirley Jackson Award for Short Fiction.

A limited edition, signed collection of short stories, available from PS Publishing. Also available for Kindle.

FIVE FEATHERED TALES – August 2016

Imagine five feathers, their colours ranging from deepest black to purest white, with flashes of bright gold . . . and each has a story to tell. A young boy seeks true magic in the circus ring; a city dweller finds himself living among rooftop outcasts; a girl born of the desert sees the desires of those around her in the palm of her hand; a mother and daughter seek transformations in the black and white feathers of their own twisted fairy tales.

A partnership between an award-winning writer and illustrator, Five Feathered Tales brings together short stories by Alison Littlewood with the darkly fantastical artwork of Daniele Serra. With each story exquisitely illustrated, this volume is printed throughout in full premium colour. Includes an introduction by Peter Tennant of Black Static magazine.

Ben Cassidy has strict instructions from his mother, Cass, never to return to his childhood home of Darnshaw. But when an old friend dies, he returns to investigate a computer game she was playing named Acheron.

Acheron claims it will give you all that you ask for, something Gaila, Ben’s sister, knows all too well. But there is a price, and hers is to get Ben to London.

As Ben and his friends delve ever deeper into the world of Acheron, good motivations and morality begin to slip, and they find themselves falling further into corruption. Ben and Gaila could save them all, but the price for doing so might just be too high to pay…

The Hotel Baktun is an exclusive hotel complex that is about to open on the coast of Acapulco, Mexico. Owned by a mysterious multi-millionaire businessman, it is shaped like an ancient Mayan pyramid and its halls are lined with rare and expensive artefacts.

For Stacy Keenan, the hotel’s new Head of Security, things are already chaotic as the locals continue to put the finishing touches to the festivities while VIPs begin to arrive for the grand opening. When a Russian cruise ship turns up on the coast and disgorges its cargo of flesh-eating zombies, the guests and staff soon fragment into various factions as they battle to survive against the spread of HRV (Human Reanimation Virus).

As the armies of the dead conquer all that stand before them, a horror even more ancient and terrible is revealed when The Death comes to Paradise . . .

Mire House is dreary, dark, cold and isolated. But when Emma Dean inherits it from a distant relation, she immediately feels a sense of belonging. It isn’t long before Charlie Mitchell, grandson of the original owner, appears claiming that he wants to seek out his family. But Emma suspects he’s more interested in the house than his long-lost relations.

When she starts seeing ghostly figures, Emma begins to wonder: is Charlie trying to scare her away, or are there darker secrets lurking in the corners of Mire House?

Some fairy tales are born of dreams . . . and some are born of nightmares. A murderer is on the loose, but the gruesome way in which the bodies are being posed has the police at a loss. On a hunch, Alice Hyland, an expert in fairytales, is called in – and it is Alice who finds the connection between the body of Chrissie Farrell and an obscure Italian version of Snow White. When a second body is found, she is dragged further into the investigation. But now Alice must fight, not just to prove her innocence, but to protect herself…

Cass is building a new life for herself and her young son after the loss of her soldier husband. But their idyllic new home is not what she expected: the other flats are all empty, there’s sinister graffiti on the walls, and the villagers are a little strange. When a heavy snowstorm maroons the village, things become even harder.